TABLE OF CONTENTS This appendix serves as an introduction to the basic MATLAB commands and functions, procedures for naming and saving the user generated files, comment lines, access to MATLAB's Editor/Debugger, finding the roots of a polynomial, and making plots. Several examples are provided with detailed explanations.
MATLAB and Simulink are products of The MathWorks, Inc. These are two outstanding software packages for scientific and engineering computations and are used in educational institutions and in industries including automotive, aerospace, electronics, telecommunications, and environmental applications. MATLAB enables us to solve many advanced numerical problems fast and efficiently. Simulink is a block diagram tool used for modeling and simulating dynamic systems such as controls, signal processing, and communications. In this appendix we will discuss MATLAB only.
To distinguish the screen displays from the user commands, important terms, and MATLAB functions, we will use the following conventions:
Click: Click the left button of the mouse
Courier Font : Screen displays
Helvetica Font: User inputs at MATLAB's command window prompt >> or EDU>> [*]
Helvetica Bold: MATLAB functions
Times Bold Italic: Important terms and facts, notes and file names
When we first start MATLAB, we see the toolbar on top of the command screen and the prompt EDU>>. This prompt is displayed also after execution of a command; MATLAB now waits for a new command from the user. It is highly recommended that we use the Editor/Debugger
